Thank You
by dsf42
Summary: They kept each other sane through everything. So when KID gets shot out of the sky and the balance of their game overthrown, Shinichi finds a way to thank him; befriending the hurt thief. *Next Update: July 30th* Pairing: Fem!ShinxKai.
1. Prologue: Shot Me Out of the Sky

**Disclaimer: **I do no own these heavenly creatures named Kudo Shinichi and Kuroba Kaito, or any other characters in Detective Conan. I am but a fan.

**Summary:**They kept each other sane through everything: From rejection, to abandonement, and all sorts of trouble they attracted to their person. So when KID gets shot out of the sky and the balance of their game overthrown, Shinichi finds way to thank him; befriending the hurt thief.

**Hints at Romance, though it is Friendship based. It's just a small Three shot so I'm not gonna be overdoing it with the details, but it'll be IC so no worries. Ohh, and this is a Fem!ShinxKai fanfic, since even if Shin-chan is on top, I can't see Kai-chan as a girl. xD**

**I'm a ShinRan through and through, but I can't help but think this pairing is so creative. They balance each other out, and I kinda hope Gosho-sama would find a way to fit Kai-chan in the Detective Conan plotline. :) Well, enough blabber, R&R! :)**

* * *

His hang glider slowly descended from the vast moonlit sky, a trail of blood seeping through his immaculate uniform as he grasped his chest where the dark red liquid was leaking from.

She cursed as she ran down the stairwell of the rooftop, passing by bewildered officers of the task force, Nakamori-keibu shouting right at her ear asking what happened. She paid no mind, running as fast as she could through the floor holding the Angel Amethyst, Kaitou KID's supposed prize of the night._ This wasn't supposed to happen._ She thought. The idiot thief was supposed to stick to their game of cat and mouse. There wasn't supposed to be anyone shot at... especially him._ No one gets hurt right?_

Her long dark hair billowed against the wind, her weird cowlick following her head as she looked up, trying to remember the way his glider went to. Seeing a flash of white in the distance, she ran, passing by the panicking crowd in a hurry, the Taskforce right behind her. Blue eyes lit up with determination, thinking of a way to lose the officers in her wake. _They're not supposed to find him. _

A few minutes of zigzagging all around the alleyways of Shibuya, losing _his_ beloved Taskforce, she took off to where she knew he should've landed. The sniper that shot him was already dealt with, having her power shoes in a full grown body had its perks when kicking a soccer ball at the enemy. She paused suddenly, spotting his prone form lying a few meters away from her. Thinking quick, she took off her black cardigan and ripped one of the sleeves, quickly making her way to KID and tying her ripped sleeve around his left leg where another bullet had pierced straight through. "Hey KID, you awake?" she asked, tapping all over his chest to find the other gunshot wound, "Come on, where is it?" she muttered to herself. She needed to act quick or the Taskforce is gonna find them.

A moan escaped his lips as he grasped her hand and dragged it up to his right, just beside his breastbone, "Here." he uttered weakly, his face contorted into a deep frown, pain evident from his voice and face.

She frowned as she slowly grasped both his hands; cold. She let go, pressing her left hand in the bullet wound as she hovered over his right side and quickly grabbed for her phone in her pocket. Speed dialing number two, she pressed the device between her ear and shoulder as she added her right hand to placing pressure in his chest, trying to stop the blood flow as she glanced around his body, noting the amount of blood splattered around him. She's gonna have to deal with that.

**_"Hello?"_ **Agasa-Hakase answered from the other line, **_"Shinichi-kun?"_**

"Hakase!" her panic filled voice answered, "I need you to come to Shibuya, in the alleyway between Mishomo and ¥enDealz. And bring some strong concentrated acid, uhm, HCl would do."

**_"What do you need that for?"_**

"I'll explain later!" she shouted, "Just hurry!" and with that she hung up.

_-dsf-_

A few minutes later, with her constant swearing and his deteriorating heartbeat, the yellow beetle came to a stop a few feet away from them, and there emerged a worry-stricken Agasa, spotting the blood covering his young friend's clothes and hands, "What happened here, Shinichi-kun?"

"KID got shot at," she explained, "I need you to help me carry him to the car." she said as she stood up and motioned for the professor to grab the KID's feet. They lifted him up, KID groaning from the sudden movement on his person, and moved him slowly into the vehicle. From the distance, Nakamori-keibu's continual cursing and orders rang through the night as Shinichi grabbed the bottle of Hydrochloric acid and spilled its contents in the pool of blood KID was laying down in a few moments ago. She watched the blood sizzle as she glanced around the alley for places that had his blood, seeing nothing, she spilled the whole acid all over, dumping her battered jacket and setting it on fire. She ran to the beetle where the professor and an unconscious KID awaited her.

They drove into the night, a somber atmosphere covered the whole of Tokyo as everyone asleep and awake waited for the day to come forth.

* * *

**HCl doesn't really help remove blood. But it can somehow destroys the DNA present in the blood, destroying the hydrogen bonds and an making some significant damage to the DNA, so I thought, its gonna be impossible to track Kaito down if the DNA in his blood can't be discerned. Though I guess blood type would still be known. I'm not quite sure though, and Shin-chan's panicking so she can't think straight. Oh, and HCl is not flammable, I just needed to get rid of Shin-chan's jacket.**

**I like it when people write about ShinKai. KaiShin doesn't really appeal to me, since I think Shinichi would hate being 'under', especially by the KID. Also, I like yaoi, but having Fem!Shin is just soooooooo awesome. xD**

**Also, don't you people get the feeling Gosho-sama is gonna start ending the series soon? I get that feeling. Especially after seeing the spoilers for Chapter 817. LIKE OMG! **

**Next Update: May 20, 2012 3:00 PM.**


	2. Reminisce

**A bit early, but hey, it's best to be early that late right? :)**

**Read the first paragraph of the A/N to understand a few confusing elements of my fic:**

**My theory on Kaitou KID and Conan's enemy being the same: Since Snake can be considered an alcoholic drink(snake wine), I'm considering that Jackal is a solo assassin hired by Snake, who didn't want to get his hands dirty killing KID or is too incompetent and is unable to, and is a member of the Black Organization. You get my drift? xD So basically, KID has worked with Conan in taking down the organization, though he never revealed his identity. Also, I slightly changed the first chapter since it didn't add up with this one. In the first chapter, Shin-chan and Kai-chan are still in high school. But I put them now in about their twenty's.**

**Ohh, and instead of calling Shin-chan 'tantei-kun', I used 'tantei-chan' since he's a girl here. :)**

**Also to note, Mouri Ran is a man. LOL. Since I already changed Shin-chan's gender, I might as well change Ran's. Since I wanted to make this a 'straight' fic. LOL. But** **seriously, I like Yaoi and Yuri. Society's just a bitch. xD**

**This chapter's a bit angst-filled, its more of flashbacks for Shin-chan and Kai-chan. So be warned.**

* * *

Kaito was woken up by the sunlight streaming through the blinds of a room. And since his window faced to the North, he wondered through a hazy mind whose room he was in. And as the information finally sunk in, he opened light indigo eyes and sat up... Only to groan in agony as he clutched the right side of his chest. And through his audible groan did he realize his pounding head and extremely hoarse throat. Glancing around through one eye, he noted several different things: the room was familiar, though with his half-responding mind, quite vague, there was a soccer ball on top of a dark wooden dresser, a desk with a faced-down picture frame right below the dresser, and dozens of books organized through aforementioned dresser. The room was spacious, though quite empty. _Probably a boy's room_. He thought as he took note that he still had his monocle on, weird. He even had his unruly fringe pinned on his head by a headband as a cold patch lay on his forehead, did he have a fever? I guess that would explain his sore throat.

Trying his best to remember what had happened, he laid back down on the bed, which oddly smelt of... something familiar. Sweat and disinfectant? He shook his head softly, afraid of hurting his aggressively pounding head and thought. All he remembered was not getting his prize on the last heist, then tantei-chan's chase through the rooftop, quite exhilarating. He smiled at the memory. Then frowned. She had screamed for him to move, and on instinct he did, only for him to get shot at, if he didnèt move, hi heart would've been the target, _I guess I owe it to tantei-chan again_... After that was a blur, he kept flying, the only thought in his mind was to escape. Then as his glider caught in a building's satellite, it snapped and he fell, free falling to an alley, he landed on a pile of garbage before bouncing to the cold cement. The last thing he remember was a soothing voice then... nothing.

He frowned once more. Something in the back of his mind nagged at him. He knew he should be panicking, but he felt safe, as if it was okay for him to be here. His eyes widened, his mind finally catching up with his gathered information... _this isn't a boy's room! It's tantei-chan's!_

As if his thoughts a spell, footsteps were heard approaching the room, Kaito looked to the door that was slowly opening, only to reveal Agasa-Hakase. Kaito raised an eyebrow, expecting tantei-chan to be the one to come in.

"Ara, you're awake." the kindly Professor stated as he entered, a bowl of steaming chicken soup, a glass of water, and a bottle of medicine on a tray he carried, "Do you think you can sit up? Shinichi-kun told me to cook this for you."

He opened his mouth... only to close it once more. He then smiled, slowly sitting up in the bed and silently thanking the Professor as he laid down the warm tray on his thighs, "Where's tantei-chan?" he asked, his hoarse voice making the portly man cringe at the tone.

"She's out on an errand... with Megure-keibu." he explained, realization dawning on Kaito, with the Organization gone, she had become quite the celebrity, to her growing annoyance, and had become more in demand in her line of work. The Professor then proceeded to grab Shinichi's desk chair, planting it beside the bed and sitting down, "You took quite the fall the other night, Shinichi-kun's been grumbling about why you still had enemies wanting to kill you when the Black Org. is gone. You don't have to answer that though, she told me not to pry any kind of information from you." He smiled then, as if struck by a thought he stood up and rummaged through his lab coat's pockets, pulling out a cellphone, he placed it on top of the night table beside the bed. It looked familiar with the red cover and a small soccer ball keychain hanging off of it, "This was Conan's phone, she told me to give it to you. Our numbers are there if you need anything, and if you need to call someone, go ahead, it won't remember the number you would dial." He smiled again, turning to leave the silent thief in the room.

_She wants to keep the status quo?_ He thought, smiling. Digging into his soup, his smile faltered, a distant memory climbing up to his mind, "Chicken soup, huh?" he croaked softly.

_-dsf-_

_"Mou, Kaito, if you take care of yourself once in a while, I wouldn't have to waste my time coming here!"_

_"S'okay, s'okay, you love me any-ACHOO!" grabbing a handful of tissues, Kaito blew his nose, "Do you have anything better to do?" he asked, eating the chicken soup she made for him. A week after the fall down, getting only scrapes and grazes from bullets fired that gruesome night, he caught a fever._ I guess with all the stress gone, everything's caught up to me._ He sniffled. Aoko was fussing over his room, tidying up clothes and books and random things you can find in a magician's room._

_"No, but I could've been at home waiting for Dad!" she shouted, facing him, hands on her hips, and giving him a stern glare, "Ever since Kaitou KID-" she spat the infamous name out, "-sent that notice two weeks ago, involving that underground organization that was on TV and that famous detective, Dad's been staying overnight in the HQ! He's not even supposed to be there!"_

_In his head, Kaito flinched. _Poker face, poker face_. He reminded himself. He didn't mean for Nakamori-keibu to actually help with the aftermath of the fall down, it's just that the situation called for it, with everyone depending on him to lead the police into the hideout, secretly of course, since the FBI didn't have enough men to take the the main hideout. He knew Aoko would get mad, but he couldn't risk Them getting away again, after all the players had assembled, it was time for the deck to be shuffled and the winning hand to be shown._

_"-doesn't he even know that his department deals with theft?" Aoko ranted on, oblivious to the thoughts crossing her best friend's mind, "Not some stupid group of murderers! He even went as fa-!"_

_"Aoko, calm down." Kaito interrupted, the soup's steam gone, "I'm quite sure your Dad's gonna come home soon." he smiled warmly, a smile reserved only for Aoko._ I'm gonna have to talk to the keibu_. He thought._

_"Why should I?" she screamed, stomping towards him and plopping down on his bed, making the soup slightly spill towards the sheets. Kaito didn't mind, he was focused on the fact that this was the longest she has ever ranted on about her hatred towards KID, maybe it was time. He frowned._

_"Doesn't that idiot thief feel ashamed of himself?" she asked no one in particular. In his mind, Kaito said 'yes'. It was hard not to, especially if the only person who doesn't accept him is the one person he wants to, "He goes around making the police chase him, stealing priceless heirlooms and whatnot only to return them! What the heck is that?" She sighed, her head cushioned by Kaito's legs as half her body hung off the bed. "Doesn't he know that not everyone loves the fact that he steals not only those jewels but also the people's attention? What if some girl actually broke up with her boyfriend because of KID? What if there was someone like my Dad that even forgets her daughter..? He's the only family I have left." She closed her eyes, a lone tear cascading down her cheek as her head faced Kaito. Slowly lifting her eyelids, she smiled at him, "I'm sorry, for ranti-"_

_"I'm KID."_

_-dsf-_

Kaito sighed, placing the bowl of untouched soup on the night stand. His appetite was lost after that goddamned soup reminded him of such a terrible memory from almost a year ago. Why couldn't he just forget? Would that be so much to ask as a person who's been through so much?

A knock on the bedroom door was heard and the door swung open. Shinichi entered, soft precise footsteps echoing after her, her long waist-length hair swaying with each step she took as she glanced at the melancholic thief not even hiding his sorrow with his usual smirk, "What happened to you?" she asked rudely as she sat down on the chair the Professor had vacated earlier, "Didn't like the soup?"

He snorted, "Lost my appetite." he croaked weakly, "Done your case, meitantei?" he asked, slowly slipping his mask on again.

"Yeah."

"Hmm."

Awkward silence hung over them as Kaito laid down, closing his eyes and turning away from the detective.

Deep blue eyes watched the thief's movements, propping her chin in one hand, she ran her other through her hair as a thought came over her. Taking on a her usual smirk, and before she changed her mind, she rolled the chair closer to the head of the bed and grasped Kaito's left shoulder making him face her, he flinched, eyes widening and expecting the worst as her hand slowly came close to his face...

Only to remove the cold patch on his forehead.

She smiled deviously, "Thought I was gonna take off your monocle, huh?" She laughed, standing up to grab the tray of soup, placing the medicine and water down on the table as she exited the room, not before saying, "You're not alone, KID, might as well make use of the people who care."

He smiled sadly, there was another person who's been through Hell and back like him. Actually, she might have gone through worse than him.

_-dsf-_

_An interval of time pressed on slowly as Aoko sat up from her position, desolately wide blue eyes planted on Kaito's light indigo ones, "That's not funny Kaito." she muttered before standing up, a nervous laugh followed, "If that's how you're gonna cheer me up, it's not gonna work, you should know that." she said, voice oddly calm as she watched the pain go through Kaito's eyes._

_"I'm not joking."_

_Kuroba Kaito is a very capable magician. He was Ekoda High's campus clown. He was never seen crying. Never seen down. He's seen as bored and irritated but never sad. And that was the look he had on, disregarding the Poker face; he was crestfallen._

_She frowned then, eyes steeling as she glared at Kaito, "Explain." her voice commanded. Aoko was a very forgiving person, naïve some would call her, but she knew when people have crossed the line, and no matter what explanation he had, she knew she won't be able to forgive him. Even if that broke her heart._

_Kaito sighed, frowning as he closed his eyes and began his tale of finding the secret room, his father's broken message from years ago, the devastating truth of his death, taking on the Kaitou KID persona, encountering people that could help him, and finally, the take down. He expressed his feelings, not once placing his mask on as he bared every single truth to Aoko._

_Finally, "I know I have no right to even say anything like this, but since I've explained everything to you, I-I want you to know..." he stuttered, swallowing the big lump on his throat as tears threatened to spill from the crevices of his eyes, he looked up at her, noting how she had taken on an indifferent look, yet her eyes showed of pain and grief, "...I love you."_

_Tears burst forth her eyes, and he watched as they cascaded down her face, dropping onto the carpet of his room. She walked up to him..._

_And slapped him._

_Of course, Kaito expected that, he expected her to cry and beat the crap out of him, but what he didn't expect was her hugging him tightly and sobbing on his shirt, finally spilling the warm contents of the soup all over the bed, "I love you too Kaito." she muttered over and over. He would've smiled, but instead tears flowed down his face, drenching a spot on her hair as he buried his cheek in it, he knew she was going to say something else, so hugging her back was the only thing he could do as he waited for the inevitable._

_"...but I just can't forgive you."_

_Harder than a slap to his face, he closed his eyes tightly, refusing to let go of her._

_His heart shattered._

_-dsf-_

Kudo Shinichi was a girl before a detective. So after seeing the look on the thief's face as she entered the room, not only was she reminded of her look _that day_, but she was also reminded of a thought that had crossed her mind the past two days the thief lay in her bed, "Why in all seven hells did I bring him to my house?" she muttered strongly, going down the stairs of the mansion to head to the kitchen. _Ten in the morning; solved a case, done some grocery, and checked up on a healing thief_. She sighed, when will life ever be normal for her?

Exiting said kitchen, she headed to the foyer and slipped on her shoes. Glancing at the top of the stairs, she sighed once more and exited the quiet house heading onto the stark sun. She headed down the street to a familiar looming residence right beside her house, the kids were gonna visit today.

One would expect her to keep quiet about her predicament with the Detective Boys, but they had grown on her. They had helped her through being a kid again, helped her gain the wisdom she had now, and helped her accept all her faults... accept who she is.

So she told them.

_Their expressions that time was priceless_, she smiled to herself, walking up the porch of the elliptical house. When she had told them, they hadn't believed her, saying that 'Conan-chan was in America with her parents'. Of course, with a little explanation and the_ oh-so-important_ evidence, they believed her, and to her annoyance, up until now they called her 'Conan-chan'. She didn't mind, they called her 'oneesan' when in public anyways so as not to reveal anything to anyone.

Thinking about it, after the fall down, quite a few people have found out about her identity. Specific people from the MPD, namely, Takagi-keiji, who wasn't that surprised considering the fact the he had doubted her identity ever since that day in the elevator at Touto Tower, Sato-keiji, Megure-keibu, the portly inspector had took it the hardest out of everyone in the police department, and of course Shiratori-keibu and Chiba-keiji. From the civilians that were close to her heart there was the Detective Boys, Kisaki-bengoshi, who was also not that surprised, Occhan, who didn't even thump her head, as was expected. Shinichi somehow knew he suspected her when she was Conan, the man wasn't dumb. There was also, Sonoko, who lectured her over and over and unexpectedly, Kobayashi-sensei, apparently, the kids had relayed the information to her. They promised to keep it a secret after that though.

She smiled, it had been a hard two years with the Black Organization, but it paid off. She would never change the past, even if it did cost her the love of her life.

_-dsf-_

_Panting, from too much exertion on her newly 'returned' body, Kudo Shinichi leaned against the wall of Poirot, breathing heavily and cursing Haibara, _She could've told me I'm not allowed to exert myself too much_, she thought, wiping sweat across her brow, _"'Let's just find out, call me when something happens', my ass."_ She mocked, going as far as copying her princess-like tone._

_Taking a deep breath, she pushed herself up and headed up the stairs she called home for the past two years: Mouri Detective Agency. Sighing, she opened the door to the agency..._

_Only knocking a dazed Kogoro onto the floor._

_"What the hell?" he muttered as he rubbed the sore spot on his forehead, "Can you watch where you're going?" he screamed at Shinichi. Eyes widening as he realized who he screamed at, he coughed into his fist, standing up and dusting himself, "T-tantei-gaki*, what the hell are you doing here?" he exclaimed, walking back to his desk._

_Shinichi awkwardly rubbed the back of her head, face flushed as her other hand hid a snicker under her mouth, clearing her throat, "Sorry, Occhan, I forgot to knock." she muttered, following the man inside. It seems habit had taken over her, just barging inside the agency, "Where's Ran?" she asked._

_"Don't know." he said, seating himself in his desk, "Your name's been all over the news regarding that recent disaster, but you've never appeared once ever since. What the heck happened to you?"_

_She sighed, she was hospitalized for over a week, and was just released yesterday, in which she immediately took the antidote and was under surveillance by Haibara until this morning. After that, she rushed here to find Ran and finally spill her secrets, release her guilt and assure her that she's finally come home, "Oh, yeah," she laughed nervously, still rubbing the back of her head, "I was at the, uh, hospital. Recovering." she stated lamely._

_"Hmm."_

_Awkward silence hung over them, the old man was looking at her weirdly, making her fuss and fidget. Trying to escape the glare she was getting, she asked, "Any idea where he... might be?"_

_He stared at Shinichi, eyes narrowed, "...Beika Park."_

_She smiled, turning to leave, not before saying, "Thanks Occhan! I owe you one!"_

_"Yeah, you do."_

_-o-_

_Mouri Ran sat down on a bench. Arms spread behind him, and head cradled by the backrest. He sighed, muttering incoherent things under his mouth. Once in a while, when waiting was just too much(aren't girls supposed to be the one to wait?), he'd go outside and sit down on this bench. He even memorized all the small nooks and crannies it has; from the seal of the Detective Boys on the left arm rest, to the cuts and chipped off paint, as well as couples' names inside hearts. He was even tempted to write his and Shinichi's names a few months ago... Now though... He doesn't know anymore. He frowned. Two years. It's been two years and he's changed, from the innocent young boy that _she_ always made fun of, to a man that's seen and been through almost everything. He sighed once more, closing his eyes as he reveled in the wind breezing past his face._

_"Is there something to sigh about?"_

_He started, bringing his head up from his position... only to collide into something hard._

_He rubbed his forehead, bringing his face up to look at the perpetrator, "What the-Shinichi?" he exclaimed, staring at the girl rubbing her chin._

_She grinned at him, "You don't remember my voice anymore? I'm hurt, Ran." she joked, sitting to his left, "Move over, will ya?"_

_Mouri Ran was an expressive person, he always wore his heart on his sleeves, but at that moment, his face remained passive as emotions ran through his body, most of them negative. He frowned, "How am I supposed to remember when not once have you called or shown yourself for the past six months," he bit back unintentionally, watching as guilt and pain passed through her eyes, "Should I even ask if you're leaving aga-"_

_"I'm not." she stated simply, her voice unwavering as her fringe covered her eyes, head bowed and feet swaying back and forth from habit. For the past six months, the lead that finally took down the Black Org. had appeared and she had been busy planning every detail of an ambush with the FBI, of course, over that span, quite a few confrontations have happened, which left her drained and far more depresses than usual._

_Ran frowned once more, he was supposed to be happy, wasn't he? And yet, he felt nothing. As if Shinichi's homecoming would not make a difference in his life, "That's good." he said._

_She grinned at him, the pain from a few moments ago gone, "I have something to say, Ran."_

_Kudo Shinichi had changed. In her phase as Conan, she held her pride, slowly deteriorating, slowly crumbling. Only shame was left. So in every aspect, honesty is who she is now. 'Act upon it before it's too late' is now her motto, and as she glanced sideways to the silent Ran, looking at her with some kind of determination, for what, she didn't know, brows furrowed as dozens of thoughts raced through his mind, "Well?" he demanded, anxiety evident in his bouncing leg._

_She opened her mouth... only to close it once more as her mind ran through thousands of possible explanation to give to Ran without him getting I-feel-like-beating-the-crap-out-of-you-with-my-awesome-karate mad. She sighed then, opting for the forward approach of telling him straight up... only to be beat by him._

_"You're Conan," he stated simply, crossing his legs as he leaned back once more in the bench, posture relaxing significantly, "right?"_

_-dsf-_

Without knocking, Shinichi headed inside the Agasa residence. This place was one memorable place; her childhood(the first one), her surrogate father, her second childhood, the Detective Boys, hideouts, and just... relaxing and forgetting everything for just a few hours when she couldn't take the guilt and pain and all those pent up emotions anymore... This oval shaped house has more memories than his actual house. She smiled, walking along the hallway, her hands gliding on the wall as she reminisced those moments.

"Ahh! It's Conan-chan!" a high-pitched voice exclaimed, barreling into Shinichi's legs, making her stumble as she tried to hold the little girl all the while balancing herself, "I've missed you!"

"I've missed you too, Ayumi-chan." Shinichi said, kneeling down to hug the ten-year-old child, "What have you guys been up to, huh?"

Two other pairs of feet came running to the hugging girls, and another pair walking; Mitsuhiko and Genta grinning as Shinichi waved at them, Haibara smirking right behind them, "Ara, meitantei, what brings you here?" she asked.

"I'm not allowed to visit anymore?" she teased, standing up and patting the two boys on the head as she walked past them, the party of children, and one not-child, following after her, and headed into the living room/dining room, "Where's Hakase?" she asked.

"Out on an errand." Haibara replied simply, heading toward the round kitchen in the middle and grabbing her cup of coffee, "He told me to tell you that you're patient's awake." she sat down on the bed from the kitchen's right**, smiling as she sipped on her cup.

"I know."

"...What patient?" Mitsuhiko piped up from Shinichi's left as he struggled to sit down on a stool, Genta following suit, and Ayumi choosing to sit beside Haibara.

Shinichi's eyes widened, trying to think of a reasonable excuse(he refused to call it a lie), "Ohh, it's just a-"

"She's keeping the KID in her house." Haibara cut in, watching Shinichi through half-lidded eyes as she glared daggers at her. She gave her a What?-Did-I-say-something-wrong? look, sarcasm dripping all over, "Might as well tell them."

"Ehh?" Genta exclaimed, "Oi, Conan! You never told us about this!"

"That's right! I thought you weren't going to lie to us anymore?"

Shinichi sweatdropped, even though she loved these kids, dealing with them can be such a pain in the arse, "He just came in two days ago." she explained, "You guys watched the news the other night, didn't you?" At their nods, she continued, "He got shot by some idiot that wanted to try out his aiming skills. That idiot thought that he had some kind of airsoft rifle, not a real M25." she rolled her eyes, cursing at the stupidity of some people.

"What's an M25?" Genta asked, looking to Mitsuhiko.

"Uhh, an M25 is a kind of sniper rifle. Right, Conan-chan?" he replied, turning to Shinichi for approval.

She smiled, out of the three, Mitsuhiko was the smartest and most logical, and she expected him to be the next 'high school detective', "That's right, but I doubt you'd need to know about guns at this age, Mitsuhiko."

Mitsuhiko blushed, rubbing the back of his neck as he laughed sheepishly.

"I want to see KID-san!"

All three heads turned to Ayumi, who had a look of determination on her round face as she crossed her arms and stood from her seat on the bed. The two other kids and one not-kid all raised their hands, all three smiling as they yelled, "Agreed!"

Shinichi sweatdropped, _this is gonna be a long day._

_-dsf-_

_Her eyes grew wide, shocked beyond comprehension. If he had known, she expected him to confront her about it, that was his nature; quick to act upon a problem that crossed her way, "How did you..?" She forced to get out, her mind going blank as she stared at him with apprehension, "Why didn't-"_

_"Why didn't I tell you?" he finished for her, ignoring her stare as he looked up to the morning sky, various-shaped clouds passing overhead and covering the bright sun, "I guess, I didn't find the need to after you turned down my suspicions from before. You.. I changed. Actually, we both changed so much that we can't trust each other anymore. Then I thought that if you you didn't want to tell me, then so be it."_

_"...Wha-?" she muttered dumbly, looking down at her lap, her hands clasped together and thumbs fiddling with each other. He misunderstood, out of everyone, she trusted him the most. _Though I guess by not telling him, this was inevitable.

_"As for how I found out, it was a blunder you and Hattori-kun made. About a year back. When I was infatuated with you." At this, Shinichi blushed, until she took in what he actually said. She grew pale, the butterflies she had turning into one huge pit that swallowed her confidence, "That was when Toyama-chan came and looked for her omamori. I remembered that Hattori-kun used his omamori to find the culprit in the Shiragami case. It wasn't Shinichi that touched it, it was Conan-chan. From there, I connected the dots." she explained finally turning to look at her aghast expression._

_Shinichi barely heard what she had said as the phrase 'When I was infatuated' rung again and again in her head. _Why's he using past tense?

_"Do you have anything to say, Shinichi?_" _he asked, a melancholic expression on his face as he watch her pale face contort in a frown, "I don't really need your explanation, because I'm quite sure you know what's going to happen from here on out."_

_"What's your reply?" she asked suddenly, bowing her head, her eyes hidden behind strands of dark brown hair. _She looks pretty today, _Ran absently thought. She wore a white tank top and dark grey shorts with suspenders, reminiscent of Conan's usual style sans the blue jacket and red bowtie._

_Ran frowned, "Reply to what?"_

_"A year and a half ago."_

_Realization dawned on him as he blushed, that day in London had been so hectic that it had been imprinted on his mind, and after such a long time, he never did give her a reply. He smiled sadly, reaching his hand out to her hair, ruffling it, "Two years ago, I would have squealed like a girl, and replied right away..."_

_Shinichi slowly lifted her head, her face smiling though her glazed eyes failed to hide her pain, "But?" she encouraged, knowing full well what was to come._

_"It's just not the same anymore."_

* * *

**AND CHAPTER TWO CUT! Whew! Quite long than what I aimed for, but oh wells, you guys should tell me if you want these kind of long chapters or just around 2k+. **

**God, such an angst-fest. I decided not to make it into a three shot anymore, since if I just continued using what's on my mind, it's gonna be confusing. Ohh, and Ran and Shinichi's confrontation is longer than Kaito and Aoko's. I feel so mean, I'm removing the spotlight from KID. xD It's kinda inevitable since I know Detective Conan by heart but Magic Kaito is a bit more on the skeptical side, so forgive me. **

***I used 'tantei-gaki' since Kogoro always uses 'tantei-bozu' on Shin-chan. But, 'bozu' is more of a term for young boys and Shin-chan is a girl here.**

****In episode 345(the Vermouth climax) we see the bed of Agasa-Hakase and Ai-chan just beyond the island of the kitchen. Seriously, his kitchen is so confusing.**

**The flashback for Shin-chan and Ran is a bit on the mature side than Aoko and Kai-chan's. That's because I think that after everything they've been through, they've changed so much that their hearts hardened and stating the facts is just as simple as lying as well. And though I imagine Gosho-sama thinking of a more dramatic way of their confrontation, I thought that being calm in their 'talk' would be appropriate for this fic. Also, don't you guys think that Ran already knows that Shinichi is Conan? I mean in episode 573-574(the missing omamori case) when Conan and Heiji were talking about the omamori, Ran remembered the Shiragami case that Heiji used the omamori to find evidence that the culprit isn't Shinichi using the fingerprints. And then, Ran remembered that Conan was the one that actually touched the chain inside it, not Shinichi. So yeah. Just sharing.**

**Next Update: May 26, 2012 (time undetermined)**

**Next Chapter: The Detective Boys meet the infamous Kaitou KID! And a friendship forms?**

**Don't forget to review! I might update early if you do! :D**


	3. The Case of the Missing Tooth

**I'm late. I know. I'm sorry.**

**On to the show.**

* * *

"...No. I'm fine." Kaito said through clenched teeth, trying as much as possible not to show how exasperated he was through his voice, "What are you doing in Japan anyways? I thought you were in Ve-"

"_**I was." **_was the simple reply from the person on the other line of Conan's red cellphone, worry evident through her voice, **_"I came back yesterday... just to hear from Jii-chan that you disappeared! Where are you, Kaito?"_**

"I'm being held captive against my will, and I'll be beaten to a pulp if I try to escape. My identity will be revealed to the world, and in turn I will become a refuge. Please save me." he said in flat monotone, sarcasm dripping from his very being, "Seriously Mom, stop worrying." _As if you and Dad haven't been through worse, _he added in his head.

"_**I already asked how you were doing, baka. I want to know where you are." **_she said, also exasperated, **_"And please stop being such a kid. You're two decades old already."_**

He sighed, _I can never understand women... no matter what age they are. _"Some scary looking mansion along Nichoume. Beside an egg-shaped house." he stated, a passive look overcoming his face as he fiddled with the bed sheets he was laying on, _I need a shower, _he thought idly, "Have I told you it looks scary?"

"_**I'll be there later."**_

"Wait what?" he screamed into the phone, eyes widening as he sat up quickly, wincing as he did so, "Mom, you—I—DON'T YOU DA—!"

_**Beep. Beep. Beep.**_

"I'm not even mad." he muttered, cursing creatively under his breath, most of which involved 'women' and 'squirrels', as he plopped back down on the queen-sized bed.

Kaito woke up about an hour after Shinichi had left the room, and deciding that nothing bad's gonna happen and trusting that Shinichi would stay true to her word about keeping the status quo, he became bored. 'Kuroba Kaito' and 'bored' do not blend well in a sentence, actually, it'd be appreciated by the people around him if those words weren't stated in close proximity to each other. Ever. He had tried practising sleight of hand, juggling, locating his torn up uniform, walking—which he failed miserably—, looked through piles of books, and in the end, he wasted about thirty minutes doing all off that.

And he's still bored.

Gazing throughout the room for the umpteenth time, his eyes landed on a picture frame that was turned down. _Huh, why didn't I notice that before? _He thought as he slowly sat up once more, mindful of his leg as he slid to the side to grasp Shinichi's desk chair and pull himself up to sit on it. He rolled it towards the desk which held the faced-down frame, noting the slight collection of dust all over the desk, except for said picture frame. Slowly, with tentative hands, he grasped the top part and slowly lifted it up, revealing—

"Your house is so musky, Conan-chan!" a sweet, familiar voice echoed through the house. True to his night-profession, Kaito dropped the frame halfway upon revealing its content, eyes widening, face akin to a child caught with a hand in the cookie jar. He winced as his leg slammed on the desk's side, quickly rolling the desk chair to where it was when Shinichi left, and tossed himself into the bed, groaning softly from the pain in his chest. Thinking quick, he grabbed a kerchief from his coat's pockets and tied it around his forehead, obscuring his face as angular shadows fell towards it. _That should do it for now. _He thought, lying down in time to the door opening revealing the Shounen Tantei-dan in all their glory and... well, noise.

"Ahh! There he is!" Ayumi exclaimed, darting towards the thief in the bed, only to be caught by the collar by Shinichi, "Let me go!" she thrashed, flailing her arms as Shinichi pulled her back beside her.

She walked in front of them, hands on her hips as she glanced to the thief in bed, noting his tense countenance, "He's asleep, you saw him, now let's go." she whispered, emphasizing on the word sleep, trying to convey the message to the kids that THEY ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE THERE.

Genta whined, a unceremonious pout on his chubby face, "Why not?" he shouted, making Shinichi wince as she held her finger to her mouth... which still didn't work on him, "Wake him up then! We wanna see the KID!"

"Yeah!" Mitsuhiko and Ayumi agreed, "It's not like we're gonna reveal his identity, you know."

Having no other choice, Shinichi turned to is last resort; Haibara Ai. With pleading eyes, she begged her through unspoken words to help her get them out of the house.

"I think you should let them." was her short to-the-point reply. She walked past Shinichi, grabbing the infamous desk chair and sat down, grabbing a book from the dresser and tuning out whatever else was to happen.

Shinichi sighed, nothing ever went right with her. Flopping ungracefully onto the floor, she called out to KID, "Mind giving them a show?"

The kids looked up expectantly to the bed, watching as the bed sheets ruffled to show KID slowly rise to sit, a manic grin on his face as he held a hand on his forehead, creating more shadows to obscure his face. Backing up slowly to rest on the wall beside the bed, the curtains closed magically, darkening the room exponentially as he removed his hand towards his chest and did a half-bow, grin still in place, monocle gleaming from what small sunlight got through, "My pleasure."

_-dsf-_

Three sets of eyes stared in wonder as confetti and decks of cards flew about, the occasional dove popping out from behind the bed, the closet, and every nook and cranny in the room, "How'd you do that?" Mitsuhiko asked unconsciously as he stared at the random objects KID made to appear out of thin air.

KID's grin softened a notch, though still containing the excessive amount of insanity in it, "A magician never reveals his secrets." he said softly, risking a glance at Shinichi who stood to the side watching them through half-lidded eyes, he looked back to his audience, snapping his fingers as he asked Ayumi to come near. He flicked his hand, "Is this the reason you've been smelling so sweet, m'lady?" he chuckled, placing his hand beside her ear to pull out a small white Jasmine, showing it to her before gracefully tucking it behind her ear.

"Waahh! It's so pretty!" Ayumi exclaimed, straining her eyes to the side trying to discern the flower, hands hovering just above her ear, afraid of ruining it, "Thank you, KID-san!" she beamed up at him, watching him as he went on to his next trick, only to double over in pain as he gripped at his chest, a tearing sound heard from the shirt Shinichi let him borrow from Yuusaku. Ayumi screamed, closing her eyes tightly as Ai jumped out of the chair to haul her to the side, murmuring assurances to her.

Shinichi, who had been watching the small magic show with amusement, flinched from Ayumi's scream. She reacted fast, kneeling beside the bed as she winced from the blood seeping through KID's shirt, "You re-opened it." she stated calmly, doing a once-over to check for any other sign of pain from him, "You'll be fine, I just need to get them out of here, I'll be back," she whispered to him quietly, standing up to herd the shock-induced Shounen Tantei out of the room and down to the kitchen. Leaving Ai and KID alone in the room.

"I'm guessing you want Kudo to bandage you up, right?" she smiled, watching him through her own cold mask.

KID smirked, no pain evident in his face nor his actions as he sat up properly, trying hard to push down on his own chest, "As much as I'd hate to burden my host, I'm afraid you know the answer to that, ojousan. Seeing as how I am unable to even stand with my own two feet, let alone fly with my clipped wings."

Ai rolled her eyes, "You'd do good with her... you're both drama queens." she stated simply, shrugging and heading out the door.

KID frowned, _I'm not a drama queen, _he pouted, wincing as the simple act of breathing hurt his chest, "She never said anything about lung damage." he muttered to himself.

"Well, seeing as how you've been shot in your right, which holds the bigger lung, and a few inches below your clavicle, it wouldn't be a surprise if it nicked a pulmonary vein or artery in your body, though that is a bit too extreme... it's probably just because of the expanding of your chest that the wound stretches. At least the bullet went straight through." Shinichi explained, sighing as she closed the door behind her, holding a box of first aid kit in her hand. She walked up to him, kneeling once again beside the bed as she set up; gauze, alcohol, tape, scissors, cotton balls, and some kind of green bottle, "Put your arms up." she commanded.

Obediently, having no other option anyway, he did, "Were you the one who dressed my wounds the first time around, tantei?" he asked, a small tease in his voice, "Liked what you saw?"

Not even showing any kind of reaction to his jab, Shinichi pulled his shirt up, revealing blood-stained bandages that was still slowly seeping through, "Agasa did it." she said, cutting the bandages and slowly removing it from around his torso. She stopped halfway, watching KID flinch and wince at each tug she gave to the bandages, sighing, she breathed in before snapping all of the bandage out, making KID shout in pain.

"Warn me next time, will you?" he screamed, mask dropped and face full of emotions from anger to tiredness, "That really hurts."

Shinichi had stopped right after pulling the bandages out, hands limp in her lap as she observed the thief's face, open for her to stood up, leaning around him to check his back, "At least the exit wound sealed off pretty nice," she muttered to herself, sitting on the edge of the bed, "Lie down."

He did so, frowning as he watched the stoic expression on her face, "Why?" he asked, "Why are you doing this?"

She smiled, applying alcohol into some cotton before dabbing it into the mess of blood on his chest, "What would you do if you found a criminal half-dead with only you to help?"

KID looked away, finding the blue curtains much more interesting than her question.

"Then I guess you know why now."

"Why not just turn me in to-"

"Do you know what this is?" she cut in, smiling down at him as she held the strange green bottle from before, "It's called betadine." she said, her voice soft and languid, as if teaching to a bunch of children, "It's usually only used with scrapes and the like, but it's an antiseptic that cleans the skin, so it would make it easier for the wound to heal faster."

"I never asked you that."

"Do you have to ask for me to explain?"

"No, but-"

"There you have it." She smiled once again, dabbing the brown ointment on the bullet wound and the surrounding skin, "What happened to your Poker face?" she asked suddenly, said Poker face slamming down like lightning into KID's face, "Warming up to me, dorobo-san?"

He smirked, "It seems I have just misplaced it, meitantei, no need to get too familiar." he said, as he mentally smacked himself for his blunder, "Aren't you almost finished?"

"Just about." she said as she ordered him to sit back up slowly, applying the gauze on the wound and applying the bandages all around tightly against his torso, tying it up, she patted it, smiling at her work, "You're probably hungry, aren't you?" she asked, putting away her supplies and standing up.

To answer, his stomach growled, "Need more elaboration?" he chuckled.

She grinned, "Let me just stop by the supermarket. I have nothing in my fridge, and Haibara said you'd need a lot of protein and carbohydrates to speed up your healing." she said as she started making her way out the door, "Anything in particular you like?"

He smiled sincerely, silently thanking her that she asked, "Anything without... uh, seafood."

She raised her eyebrows at that, blinking stupidly, "Alright." she said, before disappearing out the door.

_-dsf-_

"I _still _wonder why you attract so many murderers in your vicinity, Shinichi-kun. And I just saw you this morning too."

Said girl scratched the back of her head, a blush dusting her features as she grinned sheepishly at the portly inspector, "Well, you know, trouble comes only to those who can solve it." she chuckled, earning a rather fake laugh from Megure-keibu.

"I can't even get mad anymore." he said, "Well? Can you give me the details on this one?"

Shinichi straightened up, recounting the events in her mind as she relayed it to the inspector, "The victim is a housewife, twenty-eight, Yoshikawa Mika, mother of two, both in elementary, and wife of Yoshikawa Mitsuo. Cause of death is poisoning by Tetrodotoxin, abbreviated as TTX, which causes asphyxiation, not an immediate death, the victim would suffer about a few minutes after the obtaining respiratory paralysis. Seeing as how we're in the seafood section, right beside some octopus, we can rule this out as an accident..." she explained contemplatively.

Megure-keibu knew the signs to look for when dealing with Kudo Shinichi. First off, if this case was an accident, she would have left as soon as he came in, seeing as how she seemed to be shopping herself. Second, is the way she talks when explaining details that no twenty-year-old should know. And lastly, the way her hand is on her chin, a sign of her usual 'thinking pose', is a damned dead giveaway, "But..?" he encouraged, watching the gears in her head churn.

"But, Tetrodotoxin can only be found in certain sea creatures, and with octopuses, it can only be found in the blue-ringed octopus, which, is nowhere in this store. Point one, why would the culprit do this when it's so obvious that kind of octopus is never to be sold in a supermarket.

"The victim also has a missing tooth, newly removed, and nowhere to be seen in the crime scene. I'm guessing you would know what point two is: where did it go? Was it the culprit that caused the tooth to disappear or is it unnecessary to the crime scene?

"Lastly, I asked the coroner how the poison was administered... he couldn't know without testing the body out first. Point three involves how the culprit gave her that poison, if not through her mouth or inhalation."

"That's pretty... detailed." A surprised Takagi piped in from beside the inspector, "How-" a sigh, "I shouldn't even ask why you're here, should I?" he muttered before turning to the inspector, "We've already done a cordon around the supermarket, keeping the employees and shoppers in and bystanders out. Shiratori-san and Chiba are currently interrogating everyone that was present here, asking for their ali-"

"There's no need for that, Takagi-keiji." Shinichi cut in, making both officers look up from the paper of the list of suspects Takagi was holding, "I've already narrowed it down."

"As expected!" Megure-keibu exclaimed, clapping her in the back as he led her to a room behind the supermarket that held about twenty anxious employees and shoppers waiting for the verdict that was to fall on one of them, "Well?" he looked to her expectantly.

Shinichi cleared her throat, gaining the attention of the fidgeting suspects, "Would all the people in here with the syllables 'ka', 'wa' and 'mi' in their names step forward. Remember, if you don't step forward now and you have those syllables in your name, you will be hunted down." she stated, leaving no room for arguments as her voice held authority that not even seasoned officers could pull off. Watching the group, the police usually situated in weird happenings with Shinichi watched with wide eyes as four people stepped up from the crowd, anxiety in each of their faces. Shinichi smirked, observing the narrowed suspects as they fidgeted under her look, "Starting from the left, state your name, occupation, why you're here... and your relation to the victim."

Shiratori backtracked, looking at Shinichi incredulously, "How would you know they all have something to do with the victim? What if they're just strangers?" he asked, "And what does those syllables have to do?"

She looked to him, smirk still in place, "Well... unless you don't trust my opinion, I saw each and one of them quarreling with the victim prior to her death," she explained matter-of-factly, pacing around the room, regarding the four suspects, "As for the syllables, we'll discuss that later." She said, looking expectantly at the woman to the left.

Eyes widening, she stuttered, "M-my name is Kawa Mizuno, I work at t-the small spa down the road." she said, looking down to her feet, she wore black slacks folded because of the length, a white blouse with ruffles in the chest area and her hair up in a high ponytail, she had her hands clasped tight on her chest, "I wanted to buy some fish for dinner tonight, since a friend of mine was coming over... Yoshikawa-san was a usual at our store, and she always specifically asks for me to do her massages."

Shinichi contemplated this, looking to the next suspect, a man in his thirties wearing cargo shorts and a hoodie, he cleared his throat before speaking, "I'm Yoshikawa Mitsuo, I work as a bus operator, I was here with Mika-san, and I'm her husband." He said calmly, looking down at Shinichi who stared back at him with a blank expression, "Who are you anyway? The police doesn't need some little girl butting in on a murder."

"I'm glad you asked," replied Shinichi, "My name is Kudo Shinichi, tantei sa."

As expected, all four reacted to the name, looking anywhere but at her.

The third suspect, an old lady in her seventies spoke up, wise beyond anyone in the room, she spoke calmly, in a dark blue turtleneck and a black maxi skirt, she held a cane in one hand, leaning softly to a man, probably her husband, beside her, "My name is Kawaouji Kimiko. I'm retired, so I have no occupation, and I'm here everyday, you can ask everyone at the store here... As for the lady, I have no relation to her, we quarreled because she started getting mad at a few children running around the store, so I told her off."

The final suspect spoke up next, he was a young man, probably a few years senior to Shinichi, wearing the store's uniform of a dark grey polo shirt with the supermarket's name printed on his left breast, "K-k-kawamoto Michiko, I work here. And..." he looked down, desperately trying to avoid the last question directed, Shinichi approached him, pulled his chin up and smiled, making him blush.

"What were you trying to say?" she asked sweetly, making Takagi and Chiba snicker at the back. Ignoring them, she repeated her question.

"...She usually... well, always actually... she, well, hits on me." he confessed, looking at Shinichi straight in the eye, captivated by those deep blues.

"Hmmm, I se-"

"She _what?_" Mitsuo screamed from beside the young man, approaching him with a stern look in his eye, "Is this true, boy?" he asked menacingly.

No need to scare him, Yoshikawa-san," Shinichi butt in, grabbing the man's arm and forcing him to let go of the clerk's collar, "Well, what were you arguing with about the victim?" she asked, startling him into sputters.

"She.. well, I.. have been asking her to sign some divorce papers, she kept refusing, no matter how many time I pleaded." he explained, head lowered as he recounted his argument with his wife, "She kept saying all these insulting things, I almost... killed her myself... but I swear I didn't kill her!" he pleaded, the calm countenance from a while ago gone.

Shinichi hummed in response, turning towards Michiko, "What about you, Kawamoto-san?"

He transferred his frightened look towards her, eyes shifting left and right, "I didn't kill her!" he exclaimed, panicking as he grasped Shinichi's hand with both of his, "I pushed her down and she hit her face against the ledge of the shelves because she wouldn't stop stalking me! She even went as far as following me home one time!" he confessed, eyes turning empty as he slowly knelt to the ground, "But I swear I didn't kill her."

"Why didn't you tell this to the police?" a female voice piped up from behind Takagi, "You know it's a crime to withhold information important to the case." Sato Miwako, soon-to-be Takagi Miwato, said, a passive look etched on her face.

"...I was scared."

"That's not a reason."

"Maa, maa, Sato-keiji, we'll get to the bottom of this soon." Shinichi smiled at her, glancing around the four suspects before landing her eyes on the elderly Kimiko, "The reason you had an argument with the victim was because of the children, right?" she asked. Receiving a nod from her, she looked to the last person, Mizuno, still grasping ber hands around her chest, "And you? Kawa-san?"

She sighed, the acceptance of being a suspect finally seeping through to her, "She's been borrowing money from me for the past year, and well... she didn't want to pay, so when I saw her here, I asked her again... to pay." she said, eyes downcast, as if ashamed of the truth.

"I see." Shinichi replied, walking back to the gathered officers, about to ask about the body to the coroner.

"Wait, tantei-san!" Mitsuo called out, running up to her, "I-I remember my wife disappearing right before we came here."

Shinichi frowned, "...Did she tell you where?" she asked, walking back to him.

"...No." he said, looking down, "She just told me, 'I'll be disappearing to a place where I'd would feel... nice.'" He muttered, trying as much as possible to remember what else it was that she had said, "Maybe she met up with one of the suspects?"

"Possible." Shinichi muttered under her breath, walking back to the officers, turning to the coroner, she asked, "Did the wound on her lips and gums match the ledge?"

The coroner blinked, "Yeah, a perfect match."

Sato-keiji frowned, "Do you think that came from the push Kawamoto-san did on the victim?"

"That's probably so." she answered, looking this time to the inspector, "Do you think you can bring the body to the lab now? I want to know how the poison was administered to the body." she ordered.

Megure-keibu nodded, used to the authority Shinichi held in her voice, "Alright," he agreed, turning to Takagi, "Takagi-kun, could you..?"

"Yes!" he saluted, heading to the bunch of police officers huddled up in the front of the supermarket.

"Hey! How long are you going to detain us here?" Mizuno piped up, a frown on her expression, "We already told you everything you asked!"

"She's right, you know." agreed the elderly lady, "I myself have an alibi, I was with my husband."

"That doesn't count as an alibi, Kawaouji-san," Shiratori said, looking at her with critical eyes, "For all we know, your husband may be an accomplice of yours."

Kimiko's eyes grew wide, shocked at the way Shiratori spoke to her, "...By God! You shou-!"

"Why don't we all go to where the suspect collapsed then?" Shinichi calmly cut in, smirk in place as she started heading to the seafood section.

"You already know who the culprit is, Shinichi-san?" Shiratori asked, skeptical.

"Yeah," she replied, turning her head to the side to regard them with a smirk, "after all 'there is always only one truth.'"

* * *

**I feel like his quote is barely used in canon now. It saddens me, because Shin-chan always looks so cool saying it. xD**

**I'm terribly sorry I'm three days late updating this. As a gift, I'll be posting the next chapter by Thursday since I will be gone by Friday until Sunday for campO. :D**


	4. Melancholy

**Disclaimer: Me no own. Applies to previous and following chapters.**

**The case is actually just an excuse since I'm having a writer's block with how to proceed with Kaito and Shinichi's relationship in this fic. You'll probably see the progress in the next chapter, or perhaps its in this one?**

**Well, read to find out! ;)**

* * *

Kaito came from a family of phantom thieves; from the Phantom Lady, Kuroba Chikage, to the original Kaitou KID, Kuroba Toichi. So, of course, when he found his Mom, slowly stroking his hair as he woke up in tantei-chan's house... he wasn't surprised, "What the heck are you doing here?" he asked, slowly sitting up, mindful of the bandages around his torso. He didn't need a repeat of Shinichi's bandaging. He winced remembering it.

"I told you I was coming here, didn't I?" she said softly, smiling at her son as she rolled the desk chair slowly backwards.

He looked at her, frowning.

She raised her hands, an act of surrendering, smile still pasted on her mouth, short hair framing her petite face, "I wanted to visit this place," she explained, looking around the room, as if reminiscing, "One of your Dad's students owns this house, you know."

"You mean that pretty lady you keep talking about before, right?" he asked, still frowning. _What the hell is she getting on about?_ He inwardly complained, "That's your only reason?"

She pouted at him, rolling back towards him to slap his left shoulder, "That's mean, Kaito." she muttered, "She was a good friend of mine, you know, and ever since her daughter's name kept coming up in the newspapers abroad, I wanted to see. The great Kudo Shinichi." she announced her name with exaggeration, "Aren't you lucky you got saved by her?"

He chuckled, "I guess I am." he agreed, "I don't even want to imagine if Nakamori-keibu was the one who found me."

She laughed, "Maa, it seems Lady Luck is still with you."

He laughed with her, "I guess She is."

_-dsf-_

"Well?" Megure-keibu chided, arms crossed as he regarded Shinichi and the four suspects, "Who's the culprit, Shinichi-kun?"

Shinichi nodded to the inspector, face passive, "The victim, Yoshikawa-san, had told me who the culprit was herself, you know." she stated, a small smirk in her face, "...She left a dying message."

"She _what_?" the inspector bristled, voice booming as he looked to his subordinates, "No one told me about this!"

Shiratori frowned, "I thought you knew, sir."

"This is my first time visiting the crime scene, so I didn't know as well." Sato said calmly, gaze falling towards a newly returned Takagi.

He screamed in realization, "...I forgot." he confessed, a sheepish look on his face as he rubbed the back of his head, "I was about to tell you, actually.. but then I saw Shinichi-san."

The orange-suited inspector narrowed his eyes at Takagi, temper gradually rising, "You idiot!" he shouted at him, making everyone in the vicinity cringe at the loudness of his deep voice.

"I'm sorry!" Takagi bowed, only earning a thump to the head.

Shiratori chuckled while Sato frowned. In the sidelines, Shinichi was seen slowly standing up from a crouch near Kawa Mizuno, "Can we get on with this, keibu?" she interrupted the bunch, gaining the attention of everyone in the room; the four suspects, Kawa Mizuno, Yoshikawa Mitsuo, Kawaouji Kimiko, Kawamoto Michiko, and the police officers huddled all around them.

Megure-keibu cleared his throat, realizing the riot that their small moment had resulted in, "W-why, yes, of course."

"As I've said," she started, pacing around the suspects and heading to where the victim was found laying a few meters away from the ledge she hit herself in, "the victim left a dying message... containing the characters 'ka', 'wa' and 'mi', and two continuous curves all written from the blood in her mouth. This was all located right beside the ledge where she hit herself. Which wouldn't make sense, since her body was found meters aways from it."

"Could it be a message left by the culprit?" Takagi asked, frowning as a thoughtful look came over his face, "But then, the culprit would've made sure that the body is right beside it."

"Yeah." she agreed, smiling at Takagi, "So, I'm quite sure that the victim left it herself."

"But why was her body away from it?"

"To hide it, of course." She answered, pacing around once again, "The crux of this deduction lies in the wound from her mouth and the missing tooth."

"Tooth?" Mitsuo asked, "What tooth?"

Shiratori piped in, explaining the details to the suspects, "Apparently, the victim had lost a tooth from the fall she sustained from Kawamoto-san's push, which resulted in her losing a tooth, specifically her right molar tooth."

"What does that have to do with this?"

"Plenty." Shinichi answered, "The dying message means, as stated, that the culprit has the given characters in their name... The two parallel curves beside the character 'mi'... denotes water(mizu)."

"...Then, the culprit..." Kimiko muttered, leaning heavily in her cane as her head slowly looked to the accused:

A wide-eyed, bewildered and frightened Kawa Mizuno.

"W-what are you saying?" she exclaimed, "How could I have killed her when I was just here to shop?"

"The victim's husband had stated that she disappeared right before they met up again here at the crime scene, saying, and I quote, 'I'll be disappearing to a place where I would feel nice.'" she explained, smiling as if she caught a mouse by its tail, "The only plausible place that would make you feel nice would be, well, a spa. Is that not right, Kawa-san?"

She huffed, "That doesn't prove anything, Kudo-san," she proudly said, crossing her arms on her torso, "So what if she went to the spa before she came here?"

"So she did? And a full treatment, right?"

Mizuno blinked, stuttering, "..Well.. Yes, s-she did."

Shinichi snorted, turning to face The crowd, "Let me explain the trick then, to further shed light on this truth.

"The victim, as stated, had been at the spa Kawa-san works at, and as usual, she asked for her to do the massage," she explained, looking from one person the the next, "the poison, as I have confirmed with the coroner just a few minutes ago when you lot were... busy, was administered in her upper back, through oil."

"You narrowed down where in the body the poison was administered?" Takagi exclaimed, "It would have taken at least a day to fully analyze the body, how do you know it was on the back?"

"The way she acted."

"...Acted?" Sato echoed, a frown dusting her features.

"Yeah," Shinichi said, looking to her, "Before we had headed here, I asked the coroner to bring the body to the morgue... and who was it that had reacted to this?" she asked, the others gazing at her dumbly, "The overly nervous Kawa-san, who's attitude changed from the quiet, nervous suspect to a demanding one."

Realization dawned on them as their heads slowly turned to look at the accused. Shiratori, ever the skeptical one, had a frown on his face as he turned to Shinichi, "But if we analyzed the body, within a day we could have narrowed it down that she did it, why the obvious trick?"

"Well, if my deduction is correct, this wasn't a premeditated murder, and the culprit acted on impulse," she explained, frowning and her hand-on-chin pose in effect, "plus, I'm quite sure that she's ready to leave the country the moment the she's released, it'll be hard to track her down then."

Shiratori nodded, accepting her explanation, "So, do you kno-"

"Evidence!" Mizuno shouted, stance changing to defensive, feet apart and hand held steady at her sides, "You can't pin me down without evidence!"

"I was just getting there, Kawa-san," she said confidently, turning to Takagi, "Do you think you can check the folds of her pants Takagi-keiji?"

Taken out of his stupor of watching the truth be revealed, Takagi jumped at the mention of his name, "Y-yes!" he shouted, crouching down to rummage through the folds of her pants, "Excuse me while I do this, Kawa-san," he muttered politely, pulling out a blood-soaked molar from her pants, "Is this it, Shinichi-san?" he asked as he turned to Shinichi, holding the tooth in between his gloved thumb and forefinger.

"Yeah," she nodded, turning to Mizuno once more, "That is evidence that you came in contact after she fell, which, if my memory serves me right, shouldn't have happened since you met with her a few minutes before Kawamoto-san fought with her."

Mizuno bit her lip, frowning, "T-that could've been placed in my pants by the culprit to frame me!" she claimed, "Besides, your memory doesn't count as evidence!" turning to the crowd looking at her, "You can't possibly believe what she's been spouting!"

"We have no reason not to, Kawa-san," Shiratori piped up from her left.

"Well, if you want a more concrete evidence, then I'll give you one." Shinichi announced, once more obtaining center-stage as the crowd looked at her.

"As been stated a few minutes ago, the poison was administered as oil through her back," she explained, approaching Mizuno with slow, precise steps, "The real question lies in where she obtained the poison."

"It is true that Tetrodotoxin is hard to obtain unlike Potassium cyanide, and whatnot," Sato murmured, loud enough for everyone in the vicinity to hear, "From what I know, its found usually on sea creatures," she looked up at Shinichi, "right? But how then?"

She nodded, "Well, I'm not sure how she obtained it, but," she confessed, stopping right in front Mizuno, "this right here," she touched her blouse just above her breasts and pulled out a small jar containing some black liquid, connected to a chain made to look like a necklace, "is the poison, right Kawa-san?"

"H-how did you-?" she stuttered, mouth open, panic-stricken eyes staring at the tiny jar Shinichi was holding.

Shinichi let go, turning to face the crowd again, "Behavior analysis." she stated simply, shrugging, "You kept gripping it so hard that its becoming too attention-seeking."

Kawa Mizuno, twenty two, cried, "It was her fault!" she exclaimed, face in her hands as tears seeped through them, "She killed my father!"

"...Killed?" Takagi encouraged, people have reason to kill, but just because they think it justice, doesn't mean it is.

"That's right!" she screamed, dropping he hands and staring at Takagi with already red eyes, "He loved her! And she just threw him away like garbage! The next thing I know, he committed suicide right in front of me! Do you know how that made me feel?" she elaborated, a desperate tone in her voice, "At first I thought that they just broke up, but then when I asked her about it this morning, she actually *bragged* about making him kneel and beg for her, and that her and her husband had been going at each other, finding someone to fool with just to get on each other's nerves!" she shouted, looking at Mitsuo, a frown on his face, eyes cast down to hide his guilt, "He was the only family I had left."

-o-

Cuffs were clinked on, and Shinichi stared at Mizuno as she was brought to the awaiting squadcar, "Can you tell me where you got the poison?" she called out, it's no wonder curiosity really did kill the cat if she herself couldn't stop one small question escape her lips, "...just for reference." she muttered lamely as an afterthought, a small blush dusting her cheeks.

Mizuno gazed at her from the squadcar's window, handcuffed hands clasped in her lap as she looked towards the front, eyes staring at something that wasn't there, "My father was a fisherman quite fond of octopuses especially the blue-ringed one... when he caught one a few years ago, he extracted its toxin and placed it in the jar, then he gave it to me..." she explained, smiling wryly, "He told me that it was going to protect me... I guess it only gave me trouble, huh, meitantei?"

Shinichi shook her head, a sad smile plastered on her face, "It did save you," she said, "if it weren't for that necklace, you would have continued living with the guilt and burden of having killed someone... at least now you know you can atone for that sin you have committed."

She snorted, "I guess so." and the car drove off into the setting sun.

* * *

**I was planning on making this a bit longer... until I heard what had happened to DCTP. like WTF? Screw FUNimation, go f*%$ yourself. I've been keeping track of DC for over 4 years now. Came across DCTP about 2 or 3 years ago... then this happens. Like shet. And FUNimation hasn't even continued the series, its not like DCTP is claiming ownership in North American rights. I would've been fine if they just took down conan-tv, BUT EVEN THE FANSUBS? AND I'M SERIOUSLY GONNA CRY IF THEY START CLAIMING THE MANGA AS WELL! Sigh. I feel like I lost a part of me.**

**Thank You DCTP for your very hard work. Appreciate everything you guys do. I just hope there will come a day you guys can go back to fansubbing this series. :)**

**Does anyone know any other group that fansubs Detective Conan? BECAUSE I AM NOT GIVING UP ON THIS SERIES.**


	5. I Want to Know You

**Ohh, hey dur. :) I finally found the motivation to continue this. Though this chapter is a bit short and a bit rushed. Enjoy anyways.**

**MAJOR SPOILER WARNINGS. IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THE LATEST CHAPTER OF DC, I EXTREMELY ADVICE YOU TO SKIP A PART IN THE STORY, WHERE... I'LL NOTIFY YOU.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own.**

* * *

"Maybe you should go home, Mom." Kaito said, yawning from his position on the worn out leather couch. His Mom had helped him down the stairs and into the library where he was currently seated, panting from exertion, "Kudo might come back soon, she's already pretty late, you know." he muttered, squirming in the couch to find a better position, his monocle long since forgotten in the company of his mother.

"Maa, maa, don't you want me to meet her?" she teased, sifting through the hundreds of books in the Kudo library, "Besides, I wanna ask how Yuki-chan's been. I haven't seen her in so long."

"You're gonna reveal my identity."

"You don't have your monocle on."

"I could pretend this is a disguise."

"Yeah, right." she laughed, walking over to him, "You're beat up, your suit's ripped all over, and your tools are at home." she stated matter-of-factly, seating herself near Kaito's head and pulling him up to lay on her lap, "Besides, I'm quite sure you're willing to reveal yourself to her... You want to see her reaction don't you?" she started running her hand through his unruly locks as his eyes slowly closed, sleep slowly consuming him. Once sure he was asleep, she spoke softly, a sad smile on her face, "You're probably thinking that even if she turned you in, you have nothing left to protect."

She sighed, watching the slow rise of his chest, slightly labored breathing and his restless eyes behind his lids. The sun had set, setting the library in a somber atmosphere, the full moon shining brightly above them.

_-dsf-_

Shinichi shifted in her seat, Takagi-keiji's car filled with officers, "Can I ask a question?" she asked from her seat in the back, squished in between Shiratori-keibu and Chiba-keiji, "Why didn't anyone ride on Sato-keiji's car?" she complained, shifting once again.

At first, the officers in the Skyline* remained quiet, they looked out the window, or on the road in Takagi's case as a driver, until Megure-keibu cleared his throat, "Maybe you should ask Takagi-kun here." he said, scowling at said keiji.

Takagi huffed, looking at the rearview mirror to look at Shinichi, "She's mad at us," and from the glares he earned from the surrounding officers, he cleared his throat, "...well, just me." he squeaked, looking back at the road, "We fought about something stupid and she said she needed to be alone and that, uh, we should take you home." he explained, "So, how's it been? We haven't seen you since this morning, anything new?" he joked lamely, trying desperately to lighten the mood.

Shinichi smiled, these officers really pulled at her heartstrings, "Maa, if you count baby-sitting the Detective Boys something new." she laughed, remembering the small fiasco from that morning, "What about you guys, anything new?"

Shiratori-keibu spoke up, "Well, the rounding up of the Org. members is going well in the branches in the US. Jodie-san called to tell us that the other day," he said, smiling at Shinichi, "Isn't that good news?"

Shinichi smiled back, nodding, "Yeah, really good news." After almost a year after the fall down, not every member has been rounded up, but, she didn't want to get involved anymore, choosing to aid the FBI from the sidelines with information regarding the Black Org. That's why any news about the fall down is good news to Shinichi. Especially after everything she's been through. Though that doesn't necessarily mean she hated that 'journey', in fact when she actually thought about it, she's very much thankful for the experiences she gained as Edogawa Conan.

"So, how's Conan-chan doing?" Takagi teasingly asked. The surrounding officers just coughed in their hands, once more glaring at Takagi. The subject of Conan, they think, was touchy to Shinichi. Instead, Shinichi just grinned, squirming as she dug through her jeans' pocket, producing the worn out red bowtie. She turned the dial, the officers watching her, except Takagi, as she brought it to her mouth.

"Why Takagi-keiji?" she asked, Conan's childish voice emitting from the bowtie, "Do you miss me already?" she laughed, watching the stunned faces of the people around her. Takagi laughed along, out of all the officers, he was the only one who knew of Conan's gadgets.

"H-how the heck did you do that?" Chiba asked from her right, "What the heck is that anyways?"

"It's the Sleeping Kogoro." she grinned at him.

Realization dawned on the clueless officers around her just as Takagi's car approached her house, "Well, we're here." Takagi announced, stopping the car right in front of the gates of the Kudo mansion.

"Thanks, guys." Shinichi said, getting out of the car after Chiba. She waited as he got inside once again before speaking, "See you whenever."

And they drove off, leaving her with a small plastic bag with Chinese takeout, "Have to thank Takagi for this." she muttered as she entered through the gates, noting how the house was extremely dark, "My room's not even lit up. What is that thief doing?" she asked no one in particular. Of course the thought of the thief leaving had crossed her mind, and despite herself, she grew anxious thinking about it as she neared the door.

Opening it, she called out, "I'm home!"

Silence greeted her. She shrugged, she should've known the thief would leave without telling her. They weren't even friends... were they? Rivals, most likely. Even teammates if the situation called for it. But would she call themselves friends? She shrugged once more, _that's a thought for another day_, she contemplated, removing her sneakers and glancing around in the darkness of the hallway.

She paused, noticing the small light seeping underneath the door to the library. She frowned, even if KID was still here, he had a bad leg, he couldn't have gone down the stairs all alone. She readied her watch, tiptoeing towards the library.

She pushed the door open, watch at the ready. Only for her to almost trip on herself as she saw a maskless thief on the lap of a petite brown haired lady. Realizing this, she quickly looked anywhere but at the thief's face.

"Good evening, Kudo-san." the lady greeted, a small chuckle to her voice, "My name is Kuroba Chikage, Kaito's mom."

Shinichi's eyes grew wide, looking at the calm composure of the lady in front of her, "Why are you telling me this?" she asked. After everything she did in order to keep KID anonymous to her, this lady-his_ mom_-comes in and ruins it, "I could easily turn him in, you know."

Chikage smiled at her, "Will you?" she asked.

Shinichi contemplated this for as long as she could in that given time, but in the end, she knew deep down:

"...No."

Chikage's smile grew wider, "Well then, why don't you take a seat and let's talk over some tea." she said, moving Kaito's head slowly onto the sofa, until Shinichi stopped her.

"I'll get tea." she muttered, still trying hard to avoid looking at the two other occupants of the room. Quickly running as soon as she closed the door, her mind went into overdrive as her hands gripped the sink of the kitchen, breath coming in short puffs as she panicked over her discovery. She tried hard not thinking about it, really, she did, but her mind started connecting the dots on the information presented to her by his mom. _Kuroba Chikage, she said that she's his mom, and that his name is Kaito, meaning... Kuroba Kaito._ she thought, her posture somewhat relaxing as she started rummaging through the cupboards for teacups and a teapot. _Kaito? Why would she name her own son like that? Maybe his name has a different kanji?_ she sighed, imagining the lady in her library and her mom together. _They'd get along pretty well... Wait a minute.. Kuroba? Are they related to Mom's old sensei? The Kuroba Toichi?_ she shrugged, pouring in hot water into the teapot along with the tea leaves, she's not even sure if she should believe that lady, for all she knew she was holding the thief as a hostage. She frowned then, she didn't look like anyone that would hold the thief hostage, but then again, **(STOP! IF YOU DON'T WANT A SPOILER)-**Amuro didn't look like he could hurt a fly.. yet he turned out to be Bourbon in the end. **RESUME HERE-**Besides, no one knew the KID was healing in her house... except the Professor, Haibara and the kids. She shook her head, trying hard not to think about it. Slowly swirling the teapot, she placed it down on a tray along with three cups and headed back to the library.

"Smells nice," Chikage commented as Shinichi entered the room, "Do you need any help with that?" she asked her, smiling sweetly.

Shinichi blushed, shaking her head, "That's fine, your han-I mean, your lap's pretty full."

Chikage chuckled, looking around the room as Shinichi placed the tray on her father's desk, "I'm sorry, by the way, for suddenly barging in like this," she started, laying her eyes on Kaito's sleeping face, "It's just that he called me this morning, and I was pretty worried after he didn't come home for two days. He always tells me where he goes.. especially on heists." she explained, running her hand once again through his hair.

Shinichi hummed, "It's okay, a lot of people just barge in here anyways." she chuckled, then realizing her rudeness, she cleared her throat, looking at Chikage with wide eyes, "I mean, it's fine... a lot of people are welcome to just come in." Nervously laughing, she ran her hand through her dark brown tresses, bringing Chikage a cup of tea she poured.

"Thank you," she smiled, bringing the steaming hot cup to her lips, "So, how's your Mom doing recently?" she asked suddenly, making Shinichi sputter as she was drinking her own cup.

"Wha-why do you know her?" she asked, incredulous, as she remembered her thoughts from the kitchen.

"Of course I know her, she was my husband's student back when she was known as Fujimine Yukiko." she explained, gaze looking fondly at Shinichi, "She was quite fond of Kaito when she first saw him, saying he looked like her daughter.. When I do look at you two, you have a really uncanny resemblance to each other."

Shinichi frowned, "So my Mom knew about the Kaitou KID's identity? If your husband is who I think he was..."

"We didn't tell her, but I'm quite sure she had a clue, especially after your father gave some interest to Kaitou KID." she smiled a smile that only mothers can, "After all, he named Phantom Thief 1412."

Shinichi hummed, nodding as she processed the information, then remembering the hanging question, she looked up at Chikage, "Ahh, er, my Mom's doing fine, I guess," she chuckled, looking at her with a sheepish expression, "I haven't actually seen her for almost a year."

"I see."

"...uh, yeah."

Silence covered them, and no matter what thought came to Shinichi's mind as a conversation, she quickly shot it down, thinking all her questions are much too personal for her to ask a stranger.

"...Why did you save Kaito?"

She asked so suddenly that Shinichi's mind took a second to fully comprehend the question. She grinned, finally looking at Chikage in the eyes, "He would have done the same for me." she said, looking towards Kaito and the sudden twitch in his eye.

Chikage flashed Shinichi a knowing smile, "I'm quite sure there's more to it than that." she said, eyes setting downcast towards Kaito, a fond smile growing on her face.

Shinichi's eyes took on a somber look as she glanced back at Chikage, a few seconds passed before she sighed and took to re-answering the KID's Mom's question. She adjusted herself on her Dad's desk, making herself comfortable to what she was going to confess to her surprise guest.

"...I wanna thank him." she started, uttering the words softly, feeling as though if she talked too loud, she'd break something. What, she did not know. "For his heists, for the thrill in them, for keeping me sane, even if that sounds a bit.. weird," she chuckled, looking down at her lukewarm cup of tea, "for making me look forward to something and not just murder cases," she snorted at this, closing her eyes, "...and for somehow helping me get over Ran." she said that so softly that Chikage had to lean forward to catch what she said. Shinichi looked at her with a defeated look, a sad smile on her face for a fleeting moment before taking a full blown grin, "Quite stupid reasons, huh?"

Chikage nodded, looking down at Kaito, "Quite stupid, indeed." she answered, taking to brushing Kaito's hair with her hand once more._ I guess you did right, trusting her._ she thought to herself as she slowly slid his head down on the sofa and stood up, dusting her slightly wrinkled skirt, "Well, I want to thank you for saving him." she smiled, walking towards Shinichi, "And I'd be really grateful if you taught him what you know now." she smiled once more at Shinichi before walking away. Seeing as she stood up as well, Chikage shook her head, "I can show myself out."

And with that, Shinichi's sudden guest left and two worn out young adults were left in the room; one that's learned too much of a lesson, and the other that was only going to learn it.

* * *

**Next Update on the 4th of July! :)**


	6. Open Up

Kaito woke up quite on the side of I-feel-good-but-my-body-is-killing-me. As he opened his eyes, he remembered where he was: on the sofa of Kudo's library. Without his monocle. And he could hear the flipping of pages just beyond him. "Good morning, Kuroba-kun," he heard an all too familiar voice say, the taunting smirk he so hated evident in that voice, "had a good sleep?"

He started, forgetting his wounded chest as he sat up quickly, wincing as he felt the bandages on his torso shift. He grabbed his right eye quickly, covering it from Shinichi's view, "Whoever are you talking to, tantei-chan?" he retorted, Poker face in place as he panicked inside.

Shinichi laughed, flipping the page of her new mystery book she bought that morning, "Stop pretending, will you?" she said, looking up to glance at Kaito, eyes filled with glee, "You're Mom practically introduced your" she motioned quotations with her hand, "'secret identity.'" she laughed once again, "Besides, screw our status quo, it's been broken ever since I saved you that night." she said, toning her grin down into a smile.

Kaito visibly relaxed, though looking at Shinichi with some apprehension in his eyes, "Heh, I'm guessing since I don't have cuffs on me, you have no plan of turning me in?" he wondered consciously, looking around the room as if he's only been there for the first time, "Why?" he asked, finally looking at her as she stared at him.

She shrugged, looking away and standing up, "Don't feel like it." she replied, "Want some food? You haven't eaten since morning yesterday." she announced, placing her book down on the desk as she walked away towards the door. Stopping, she looked at him expectantly.

Kaito blinked, "Oh, uh, yeah. Sure." he said, watching Shinichi disappear through the door. He looked around once more, before gripping the armrest of the sofa and hauling himself up to stand... Only to collapse pitifully onto the floor, "Damn this leg." he muttered just as Shinichi re-entered the library, reeling a wheelchair instead of the food she was supposedly getting. Kaito blushed as she stared at his sprawled form, clearing his throat as he took to tucking his leg around each other, "Just thought that sitting on the floor is a lot.. comfier." he declared, scratching his cheek with a finger.

Shinichi hummed, her face passive, "Here, this'll help you get around the house more." she said rolling the wheelchair towards him, "You know, when I think about it, I thought that when I found out about your identity it'd be.. explosive." she explained, a frown on her face as she tried looking for other words to describe what she meant. She stopped in front of him, leaning down as she held her hand out, not looking at him, her thoughts occupying her mind. He took her hand, leaning on his right leg and plopping down on the wheelchair. He muttered a thanks which she brushed off and continued to think, "You know, like something big would happen when our real selves would meet each other? I got that feeling," she explained, grabbing her book and wheeling him out of the library and towards the kitchen, "not like this where I feel like we're already friends the moment we spoke to each other."

Kaito's eyes grew wide at that moment. Shinichi had brought him to the kitchen and was now looking through her fridge to find something for him, "Uh.." he muttered lamely, feeling like he should be saying something to what she said. Did she just call us friends..?

Realizing her mistake, she whirled around, holding a styrofoam box in one hand and utensils on the other, "..I mean.. that we.." she shook her head, unable to find the right words, "Nevermind.. just ignore what I said." she muttered, a slight pink dusting her cheeks.

Kaito looked at her apprehensively for a moment before he broke out into a smile as he watched her roam around the kitchen, placing the styrofoam box in the microwave and heating it, "I only have Chinese takeout right now, Takagi bought it for me last night since I didn't get to buy you anything without... fish." he flinched as she said the forbidden word, grabbing a plate from one of the cupboards and taking the box to fill the plate. "Here you go." she smiled at him, taking a seat across from him and grabbing her unfinished book.

He smiled at her, "Thanks," he muttered before digging in, realizing he hasn't eaten in so long. Gobbling up his food within a few minutes, Kaito glanced up at Shinichi, a small smile on his face as he watched her face light up because of her book. He sighed, placing the plate on his lap and heading towards the sink. It was then that his hand was stopped and the plate taken away from him, "I'll get you some water," she told him, wheeling him back to his position, "or do you want some coffee?" She turned, looking at him with a smile.

"Water's fine." He muttered, feeling useless as he watched her get a glass and pour water from a pitcher in the fridge, "How long do you think I'm gonna have to stay here?" He asked suddenly, watching Shinichi stiffen slightly as she walked towards him, handing him his glass.

"You want to get rid of me this soon, KID-san?" She taunted, turning back towards the sink to get the dishes done.

Kaito chuckled, "Of course not, tantei-chan," he said, fiddling with her book on the table, "It's quite hard when you're in slightly unknown territories."

She hummed, drying the dishes and putting them away before turning to him, "Judging by your leg? Four or five more days." She said, heading towards him, "Library or living room?" She asked as she grasped the handles of the wheelchair.

"Living room." He muttered, Kaito contemplated this, "Where the heck did you get the wheelchair?" He asked suddenly.

"Oh. Its my Mom's."

"And may I ask why your Mom has a wheelchair?"

"She.. drove." She shivered, as if remembering a bad memory.

"...Okay?" He muttered as Shinichi stopped the wheelchair beside a loveseat in the living room, "Can you turn on the TV?" He asked as he pulled himself up and moved towards the couch. Shinichi took the remote from beside him and turned on the TV, switching the channel to the news.

"News?" She asked.

"Yeah." He muttered, flexing his leg slowly, trying to feel just how bad his leg got beat up, "Uh, what has the press been saying about.. you know."

Shinichi chuckled, "Not much actually. Just the news of you getting shot at." She said to him, looking at her flat screen, "Nakamori-keibu didn't tell the media about your disappearance. He didn't even tell the media that you didn't get to steal the Angel Amethyst."

Kaito frowned, looking down, "..He didn't.."

She frowned as she looked at how sad his face looked. Without the monocle, Kaitou KID seems like any kind of young adult with lots of problems, "Say, can you answer a question?" She asked consciously, afraid that she might cause some kind of reaction from him.

"Shoot." He said, looking back up at the TV.

"..Why are you sad?"

Kaito blinked, looking at her as Poker face unknowingly slammed down on his face. His face lowered, using the sun's beams that travelled through the window behind him to cast a shadow on his eyes, his mouth twisting up into his trademark smirk, "Why would you think that, meitantei?" he taunted, daring her to ask another personal question. If he had to stay here for five more days, Poker face would soon be stuck on his face permanently with the way Shinichi keeps asking questions he would rather not answer.

Shinichi watched his transformation from a mellow young man to the boisterous thief she'd known for a while. She ignored his retort, settling down on the sofa diagonal from him and facing the TV, "You know, when I first told Ran, and his reaction wasn't how I expected," she turned to him, a melancholic expression on her face as his remained unreadable, "..I looked similar to how you do right now." she said, flashing him a sad smile, "Or at least that's how Hattori described how I looked liked." she muttered under her breath.

Kaito frowned. Why is she telling me this?

"I didn't talk to anyone for almost a week, I barely ate.. All I did was wallow in self-pity and locked myself inside the house." she continued her story, sinking deeper into the chair and getting herself comfortable, "I thought along the lines of, 'Why didn't it go the way I wanted to?', 'Why didn't I just tell him the first time?', 'Why did the Apotoxin backfire on me?', 'Why didn't it just.. kill me?'" she choked on the last part though her expression remained strong; that of a person reminiscing the past. "It wasn't until Hattori literally slapped me in the face telling me I should wake up," she rolled her eyes at this, "that's how he put it at least.

"After that, other people started randomly visiting me; the Tantei-dan who were quite scared of me back then, Sonoko, the MPD.." she chuckled at this, slowly closing her eyes, "they started calling my house non-stop, asking for my help with cases. Megure-keibu even went here several times just to discuss some stuff with me." she re-opened her eyes, glancing back at him, "It was all Hattori's idea.. and I finally came to."

Kaito frowned, confused, "So you're telling me," he started, "that you... fell in love with tantei-han?"

Shinichi gave him a deadpan look, "For a person that makes riddles as part of his... job, I'm surprised you don't get what I said," she stated, sighing as she stood up, "And it was such a long speech to." she muttered.

"Then what do you mean?"

"I mean that you," she pointed her forefinger at him, "need to let people in."

He laughed hysterically, throwing his head back as he laughed. Yet Shinichi saw through his mask; she saw how his laugh held no humor, no truthfulness to the face he's showing her, "What the hell are you talking about?" he asked, incredulous as he 'tried' to control his laughter, "Why should I le-"

"Let's go take a walk." she smiled, cutting his lies.

Kaito felt like he was being played for a fool, he gave her a glare as she continued to smile at him, "Kudo, don't tread through unknown waters." he threatened, "You don't know me."

She ignored him, standing up and leaning in front of him, holding her hand out. Kaito took it reluctantly, not showing any of his emotions on his face as his body remained tense.

His eyes widened as he heard her whisper something in his ear when she pulled him up to plop down on the wheelchair.

"That's why I want to get to know you, baka-dorobo."


	7. Bitter

Kaito huffed, pouting as he felt himself losing control of what was happening around him. He glared, enticing several murderous thoughts in his head, particularly to the smiling-no, smirking-detective behind him, pushing the wheelchair softly along the deserted streets of Nichoume, "Where are we going?" he asked sullenly, glaring at the occasional person that pass by them, making them scurry faster and avoid looking at the odd doppelgängers walking the street, "Someone might see us."

"So?" Shinichi replied evenly, slight amusement to her voice. She had donned a 'Sax*' snapback, similar to Heiji's and a small blue blazer reminiscent of Conan's old blazer.

He sighed, "I seriously don't get you," he muttered, "What's so funny?"

"I'm not laughing."

"But you're having fun getting under my skin."

"I'm not under your skin, I'm outside your skin... behind you."

He turned abruptly, glaring at her._ Screw Poker Face, she's having too much fun._ He kept his glare, watching her expressionless face, a tint of glee in her deep blue eyes, "Kudo!" he shouted, annoyed, "Either you turn this wheelchair back to your place and leave me, or take me back home to Ekoda."

"Or else?"

He glared, unable to come up with a smart comeback. He sighed, feeling defeated, "Just... take me back to your place." he muttered softly, turning away from her.

Shinichi continued walking opposite the way of her house. She smiled, toning her grin down, "Nah, let's continue walking." When Kaito said nothing, she sped up her pace, looking left and right as she crossed the intersection towards the crowded streets of afternoon Beika, "Why don't you relax, Kuroba? Walks are meant for relaxation, you know."

"And therapy." Kaito added.

She laughed, "I guess it is." she agreed, spotting a convenience store along their way, "You want some ice cream?" she offered.

"Peace offering?" Kaito asked, almost grateful, a wry smile on his face.

"You could say that." she said, heading inside, "Flavor?"

"Chocolate."

She snorted, rolling her eyes, though he didn't see, "...Why am I not surprised." she muttered to herself, grabbing a chocolate drumstick for him and a vanilla drumstick for her. She paid for both, handing a still sulking Kaito his cone, "Feel better?" she asked, playful, as they exited the convenience store.

He opened his cone, taking a huge bite and following it with a huge lick, "For now," he answered, taking to ignoring Shinichi and paying attention to his quickly dripping cone. His eyes then suddenly caught on a familiar bob of blonde hair. Having no time to warn Shinichi, seeing as the bob had turned towards them and is now waving a hand, he lurched upwards, snagging Shinichi's hat and placing it on him, obscuring his eyes.

Shinichi, in turn, had widened her eyes, startled at the sudden tense movement from Kaito. With disheveled hair, she leaned towards Kaito, holding her cone out of the way, "What's up?" she asked, a frown creasing her face.

"**Shinichi**!"

Faster than the eye could see, Suzuki Sonoko rammed into a crouched Shinichi, toppling them down into a mess of flesh on the concrete, the vanilla cone Shinichi was holding splattering on the pavement beside them, "I haven't seen you in so long!" she screamed at her ear, "Well, of course the newspapers are different." she muttered right after, getting up to dust her pencil skirt which rode a bit too high from her escapade. She held her hand out, finally noticing the occupant of the wheelchair Shinichi had been pushing, "Who's this?" she asked as Kaito pulled the brim of the hat lower on his eyes.

"You could've greeted me the normal way." she muttered softly, dusting her grey jeans with a frown and looking at her fallen ice cream sadly. "He's just a friend," Shinichi answered, "How have you been, Sonoko? Here for a vacation?" she asked, shifting Sonoko's attention away from Kaito.

"No! I'm staying!" she screamed in delight, "Even though France has a really good business school, Dad said I'd be better off here where he can also give me pointers." Sonoko lit up, flashing a brilliant smile as she talked animatedly about going to Tokyo U to continue her two more years in business administration and going off topic towards _lighter_ topics about Shinichi's cases, "...besides, after you and Ran broke off any connection with each other, I want to get our small little group together again... even just as friends."

Kaito unknowingly winced, tilting his head up a bit to glance at Shinichi's reaction to Sonoko's small announcement.

He frowned, noticing that not even a flinch in body language or a change in her expression changed. Shinichi laughed, "Good luck with that, he won't even go out for coffee with me just for old times' sake." she told Sonoko, glancing at the suspicious expression on Kaito's face, "Speaking of coffee, let's go right now if you're not busy, Suzuki-sama." she smiled easy at her, their bickering long since gone after the huge changes in their lives.

Sonoko, for her part, giggled, "I kinda like it when I get called like that," she smiled, nodding at Shinichi as she took out her phone, "Let's go, I just need to call the butler to say I'm not coming home for lunch." she announced.

"It's already two in the afternoon, isn't lunch a bit too late?"

"Meh." Sonoko shrugged, turning away.

Kaito took this opportunity to turn to Shinichi, "What the hell!" he hissed, looking at Shinichi as if she sprouted a new head, "We are not going for coffee with a deranged KID fangirl!"

Shinichi raised an eyebrow in surprise, "For a guy that loves to please his fans, you're pretty..." she trailed off, unsure of what to say.

"Defensive? Spiteful?"

"I was kind of going for anxious..."

"Whatever." he muttered, his mood deteriorating ever since morning.. especially after her impassiveness towards the mention of Mouri Ran's name._ How could she handle that?_

By this time Sonoko had turned around, sensing a tense atmosphere around Shinichi's companion. She forced a grin, grabbing Shinichi around the shoulders, "You haven't introduced me to the guy in the wheelchair, you know. We're all going for coffee, right?"

"Oh, uh, yeah." Shinichi muttered, turning away from Sonoko's grip, "This is Ku-Kudo Kaito." she stammered, catching her slip before its too late and blushing slightly, "My Dad's brother's son..." she said, realizing her stupidity, she added, "..Who is my cousin!" giving a nervous laugh, she turned to Kaito, "This is Suzuki Sonoko, heir to the Suzuki Companies."

Sonoko held out her hand, smiling down at Kaito as he shook it apprehensively, "I never knew Shinichi had any other relatives other than his parents," she said contemplatively, "But you kinda look familiar..." she trailed off, looking at Shinichi and back at Kaito, "Maybe because you look like each other..?"

"Yeah, we look like each other!" Shinichi exclaimed a bit too quickly. Seeing as Sonoko didn't seem to catch her slip, she turned around and started wheeling Kaito towards the nearest café down the street while talking amiably with Sonoko.

Treading into dangerous waters, Sonoko joyfully changed the subject to something both of her companions don't want to talk about, "I heard you where at the Kaitou KID heist the other day!" she squealed, looking at Shinichi expectantly, "My Dad didn't let me go, telling me how I'm too old for fangirling," she giggled.

Shinichi laughed nervously, shooting anxious glances towards a quiet Kaito, _I think I really pissed him off this time. _She thought to herself, "Uh, yeah, I was." she turned to Sonoko, grinning, "But I didn't get to go near him since he got shot and all. You did see that on the news, right?" she asked, trying hard to think of a different topic other than KID.

"Yeah!" Sonoko answered, face turning serious, signalling her gossip mode, "There was even this girl in the crowd, you know... everyone got so mad at her that night, but all she did was storm off as if the KID fans were the one that caused her sour mood." she told Shinichi in a slight hush voice, "I got so mad when I heard about it that I wanted to go down there and bash the girl's face in!"

"What did she say?"

Both girls looked at the wheelchair's occupant, surprised at his sudden question. Recovering quickly, Sonoko replied, "She kept saying how KID is such a loser and that even though he didn't deserve getting shot, he deserved getting humiliated and all that." she said contemplatively, holding a finger to her cheek in thought, "I'm not quite sure about the exact words, but it pretty much went along those lines," she said, entering the coffee shop they had in mind and heading straight for the barista, "I can't believe an anti-KID would actually go to his heist... crazy attention seeker." she muttered to herself before turning to face her two companions, "What do you guys like? My treat." she grinned.

Shinichi, who was frowning at Kaito looked up to smile at Sonoko, "Well, me and Kaito will get iced coffee, extra sugar on his." she looked to him for confirmation as he nodded, still deep in thought. As Sonoko turned around to order, Shinichi gripped the handlebars of the wheelchair tightly, her knuckles turning white as she processed Sonoko's words and Kaito's reaction, hoping to all Hells that it wasn't what she thinks it was... _This isn't gonna end well._

Asking Kaito to hold the small tray in his lap, Sonoko dived in for the nearest booth and sat down, waving at her two companions to hurry up. Helping Kaito wiggle his way inside the booth, Shinichi folded the wheelchair and leaned it beside Sonoko's seat while she slid in beside Kaito, "So how have things been goin-"

"What's the girl's name?" Kaito cut in while Sonoko's conversation was still fresh and before Shinichi had gotten the chance to change the subject.

Sonoko quirked an eyebrow, looking at the capped Kaito and then turning to Shinichi as if to ask something, "Uh, well, I just heard it at a chat box in the KID fan blog but people kept saying that it was the, uh, daughter of the inspector in charge of KID..?" she said unsurely, "What was his name? The... um, Nakamori guy. The one with a creative mouth." she ended with a slight laugh, sipping gleefully at her frapuccino, fiddling with her phone, not noticing the expressions of her two companions; one face-palming herself, and the other... bitter.

* * *

***You guys know that Heiji's hat says Sax instead of Sox, right? xD**

**A bit early, but also extremely short. LOL.**

**I don't mean to make Aoko the mean one here, but I just needed her to act like that to agitate Kaito. I already have the ending done, I just need a few more chapters to add up to make Shinichi and Kaito's final conversation make sense. So this fic'll probably be done end of August or somewhere around start of September. ;)**


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